Potencijalnih

Potencijalnih is a grammatical form used in South Slavic languages such as Croatian, Serbian, and Bosnian. It is the genitive plural form of the adjective potent(i)al, specifically of the base form poten(c)ijalni. In these languages, adjectives change to agree with the gender, number, and case of the nouns they modify. When a noun is in genitive plural, the corresponding form of the adjective is typically potencijalnih. Therefore, poten-cijalnih signals “of potential …” in a phrase.

Etymology and morphology: poten-cijalni derives from the Latin root potentia, meaning power or ability, through the historical development of the Romance and Slavic vocabularies. The genitive plural ending -ih (potencijalnih) is common for adjectives in this class when describing plural nouns in genitive case. This form is used regardless of the noun’s gender because genitive plural adjectives in this construction do not reflect gender.

Usage: Potencijalnih appears in phrases where the head noun is in genitive plural, often after prepositions that govern the genitive or in contexts that express attribution or qualification. Common examples include: potensajalnih rizika (potential risks), potencijalnih faktora (potential factors), potencijalnih uzroka (potential causes). It functions to describe a set of nouns as being potential rather than actualized.

See also: potential (linguistics), Slavic grammar, genitive case, agreement in adjectives.